Fallen Abyss

II

"Sonic? What? Amyyy, this better be real, and that a Phantom Projection, not after the last incident!" Knuckles didn't seem pleased, but rather angry.
"No sir, look," she lifted his arm, showing the graze.

"Hmm.. I'm not so sure!" Knuckles looked him in the eye, and he smiled nervously,
"Uhh... hey Knux, long time n-"
"What's this?" The echidna pulled on his Ruby Shard, "Looks awfully familiar if you ask me."

"Hey, lay off him you," Blue stepped in between them, and Knuckles scoffed.
"And what are you, his personal guardian or somethin'" he laughed.

"Sonic?" The group stopped when they heard a voice from the balcony, Sonic turned to find Tails standing there, tears forming and falling to the ground as he jumped done on shaky knees, "Sonic, is it really you?"

"Yes buddy, It's me. I'm here now," he smiled as the cub ran over, hugging him hard.
"Sonic! I- we all thought you were gone! I haven't seen you in three whole years, and I saw Eggman take you away and I heard on the news that-" He stopped, tears falling down Sonic's back, "Eggman showed you to us! You were.."
"It's okay now, I'm here," the blue hugged him back.

"I'm never letting them do that to you again, I promise,"

***

Later that night, Tails had shown the two some of the spare rooms, "They're not much, but try not to be bitten by the bed bugs," he half-joked, following Sonic into his room.
"I still can't believe it. After all this time, you're actually alive," he looked him up and down, "but still, even you seem different,"

The blue sighed as he looked out the window, "People.. just change." He smiled a bit, reassuring the fox.

"Where'd you get that scar from?" Tails nodded to his leg.
"Oh, this old thing?" He laughed a little, "Infinite happened." He finished with a more serious look.
"Oh," Tails seemed to look guilty before remembering something, "Then it's a Phantom scar, right? Hold on, I've got something for it! Meet me tomorrow in my workshop,"

***

Blue let out a yawn as he lay down on the lumpy bed, looking out at the night sky.
It was clouded, didn't look like they'd seen stars in forever. Or anything besides smog, for that matter.

The stare didn't last long, however, as the dragon's eyes slowly closed, drifting into a deep Sleep...

"Blue!"

Blue gasped, Opening his eyes wide, fearing the worst.
However, that wasn't the case, as he found himself in the Abyss again, floating amongst the stars and planets calmly, rather than falling.

"Blue," the voice said again, the dragon looking in the direction of the voice,
"Who are you? And how do you know me?"

"Don't worry, young one," the deep yet gentle voice said again as a silhouette came into view.

As they came closer, Blue could make out a shape of a rather long dragon-like creature, gliding gracefully amongst the stars, his golden fur waving pridefully.
"I am not a threat. But I do have a message for you, yes indeed." He smiled, the other giving him a confused look.

"You are the guardian," he said with mystery.
"Huh?" Blue raised his eyebrow even further, "Come again? Guardian? Is this about earlier? Because that was a joke," he laughed, as the world around him shattered, and they found himself falling again,

"Wait, no. Come back!" He yelled as he woke up back in his room.
"Damn it!"

"It's a good job I woke you up," a voice said from the darkness of the room, making Blue jump,
"Hm? Come on now, I've just about had enough of voices in the darkness."

"Oh, but unlike the other, you don't have to fear me," the voice made his eyes show, the rest of his shadowy body following, jumping from the rafter onto the bed with the grace of a Cheetah.

Taking a look at him, Blue could make out four horns, two reptilian large wings and a large tail fi-
Blue gasped, realizing.
"You're.. me.." he breathed,

"Another Xtarian? Yes. And, I'm afraid that one in your dream is the danger. We must find the chaos emeralds that scattered when you fell, and get the world back to normal. If not... it could be bad," the shadowy one said.

"Well... ok then. I trust you.. for now. But for Chao's sake, let me sleep," Blue flopped back down, and the other left.

"Pleasure meeting you. I'm Asura."

***

"So.. what was all the excitement yesterd- woah," Sonic walked into Tails' 'makeshift' workshop, "How long did you work on this?"
"Three years," he smirked, "Had to do something to keep my mind off your death,"

"Well yeah.. I guess.." the blue blushed guiltily, "Anyways, you said you had something to show me last night? You seemed pretty excited about it."

"Oh yes!" Tails rushed into his draw, pulling something, before slamming it, producing a small tube.

"This is a special formula I've been working on," he smiled, "After studying a few patients, I realized injuries created by Phantoms left a reddish-pink mark, like yours, and a few complained that it hurts the closer to a ruby you are."

Sonic listened intently as the fox continued:
"I came up with this formula, it soothes pain specifically caused by what I like to call 'Phantom Scars' but yours..." he shuddered a bit, "I've never seen something as big or as bright as that."

"It really is something, huh," Sonic sarcastically said, laughing, Tails joining in.
"It's still you," he smiled, "Even though you seem.. different.. it's still you underneath. I missed you, big bro,"

***

"Uhh! Sora! The light! Turn it off!" Christmas complained, the eagle apologetically snapping it back off.

The four had slept at Blue's place last night.

Four? Yes, well. A lot happens in a year, doesn't it? And now there was a new face, July. Who just so happened to be Puro's Girlfriend.

"Good morning bursts of sunshine!" She greeted, stretching her arms out, "What a beautiful summer's day!" She opened the blind, both Christmas and Darla the Chao hissing at the light.

"Why are you two so cheerful in the morning?" Puro herself questioned, coming out of Blue's room in her dressing gown and slippers.

The gang had no idea how to get Sonic and Blue back, and Tails had said not to worry about it, he'd return in his own time, as he always does, but Vanilla still seemed frantic.

"So, what plans have you beautiful people got today?"
"Gotta look after this lil' guy," Sora beamed, pinking up Darla in his arms, "full of sparks today she is!" He grinned, the Chao biting into his arm.

"OW!" He yelped, dropping the chao, who dashed to the window, opened it, and flew away, while Sora, Christmas, Puro, and July stared at each other in shock.

"DARLA!"